What It Takes to Make AI Booking Work at Scale
The travel industry is largely still testing AI bookings in controlled environments. Companies that can prove the technology works across live bookings at scale could gain a valuable head start.
Advertisement
Travel
Europe Handed Out €430 Million in SAF Permits Last Year — See Which Airlines Got the Most
Europe’s support to the industry through its Emissions Trading Scheme swelled to four times 2024’s figure as the race to meet mandated blending targets gets underway.
Ultra-Low-Cost Carriers Face Soaring Jet Fuel Costs With No Relief and Little Room to Raise Fares
Rising fuel prices are once again becoming a concern for the airline industry. Some airline executives have said to expect more capacity cuts and higher airfares.
U.S. Tourism Slide Deepens With 12% Drop in August
The U.S. travel industry expected a banner summer for visitor numbers.
AirAsia Pushes Back on Rivals Taking Its Place in Malaysia
AirAsia is defending its dominance in Malaysia as rivals eye its domestic capacity, while higher fuel costs and liquidity concerns test its advantage.
IndiGo’s Low Fares Remain. The Extras Are Getting Pricier
The commercial challenge for IndiGo is how much more it can monetize the passenger without making a low-cost airline feel less low-cost?
Kent is having a champagne moment: ‘English wine has gone from a joke to world-class’
French champagne house Taittinger is helping produce a premium fizz in the Garden of England – and now visitors can visit the beautiful winery and sample it The grapes are turning purple on tall green vines, which stretch down towards the distant flint-and-limestone tower of Chilham church. These rows of Pinot Meunier, destined for English sparkling wine, are 51% owned by French champagne house Taittinger. “England is now the most exciting wine region,” says host and sales executive Harriet Sharp as she leads me around Domaine Evremond vineyard, which opened its visitor centre last year to coi
‘Fabulous museums and no queues’: five of the best under-the-radar city breaks in Europe
From the Renaissance treasures of Parma to offbeat creativity in Nantes, these cities offer world-class art, great food and a laid-back alternative to Europe’s hotspots As dilemmas go, it’s an unusual one: saddle up a giant squid or board a submersible for a voyage to the bottom of the ocean. In the end, I find myself drawn to a fierce-looking merhorse and tentatively take the reins. High above, my daughter glides by on a flying fish, metallic fins flapping, while her Dad is battling stormy seas at the helm of a huge conch shell. A ride on the Carrousel des Mondes Marins (marine worlds carouse
Advertisement
How to explore Britain and Ireland’s most beautiful rivers on foot, bike or boat: readers’ travel tips
Our rivers may be running low at the moment, but they still offer an abundance of adventure and nature to explore. Here are your favourites, from the Tees to the Shannon • Tell us about a favourite holiday in the UK – the best tip wins a £200 holiday voucher Last summer, I enjoyed a six-mile walk along the fast-flowing River Wharfe from Ilkley to Bolton Abbey, with calming vistas of the Yorkshire Dales every step of the way. I set out at Ilkley’s Riverside Gardens on the south bank, near the remains of a Roman fort. Trace the path to the ancient stone bridge and along to the picturesque villag
‘It’s one huge adventure playground’: readers’ best summer trips in the lakes and mountains of Europe
From the Alpine meadows of Bavaria to a pristine lake in Italy and the pilgrim routes of the Pyrenees, here are some of your favourite discoveries. • Tell us about a lesser known European island – the best tip wins a £200 holiday voucher Haldensee is a clear, sparkling cold lake located at the bottom of the Tannheimer Tal valley in the Austrian Alps (about 90 miles south-west of Munich). We visited last year, just when summer was on its way out, and it was too cold to skinny-dip in the lake (unless you were very brave). Nonetheless, if you’re a hiker, a ski lift takes you up into the Allgäu Al
‘Tuscany may be beautiful, but do they sell sticks of rock?’: readers’ favourite UK holidays
Your best UK breaks include an island off Mull, a rail journey along the County Antrim coast and Dorset’s best-kept secret • Tell us about your favourite under-the-radar European city – the best tip wins a £200 holiday voucher Mudeford feels like one of England’s best-kept secrets, the sort of place visitors from abroad might never imagine exists here. Golden sand and sparkling water give it an almost Mediterranean feel, while Hengistbury Head adds beautiful coastal walks and wide-open views. Our perfect day is simple: arrive early, wander along the headland, let the children play on the beach
‘Lapped by the turquoise, crystal seas’: readers’ favourite unsung European islands
From secluded coves in Ireland to an evening passeggiata on Italy’s Aeolian islands, readers share their discoveries • Tell us about your most memorable food and drink discoveries in Europe Giant griffon vultures glided parallel with my bus as it reached the highest point of Cres, the least populated of the four main islands in the Kvarner Gulf at the very north of the Croatian Adriatic. Covered in scrubby heath, olive groves and lavender, with small towns and villages on its coastline, its wildness is its appeal. Some, like Cres town, are unobtrusively set up for holidaymakers; in others loca
‘It feels like Italy with the volume turned down’: readers’ favourite (smaller) city breaks in Europe
You share your low-key alternatives to overcrowded hotspots, from an island city in the Med to a Norwegian art nouveau gem • Tell us about your trips in Europe’s mountains – the best wins a £200 holiday voucher Ferrara in Emilia-Romagna won me over precisely because it feels like Italy with the volume turned down. I stayed in a small family-run hotel near Via delle Volte, where mornings began with quiet cobbled streets and the smell of fresh pastries. The Palazzo dei Diamanti was almost empty when I visited, giving me space to enjoy its Renaissance art without crowds. Evenings meant cycling pa
‘I never imagined such pleasure could be had from the simple sardine’: readers’ favourite foodie experiences in Europe
Your top culinary discoveries, from Bled cake in Slovenia to sardines in Portugal and seafood soup in Spain • Tell us about autumn days out in the UK – the best tip wins a £200 holiday voucher Last August, the smoky aroma of grilled sardines drifting over the beach in Portimão woke me up from my sunbathing on the beach. Attracted by the aroma of barbecued fish, we found ourselves in the old port where, for €12, I was served two delicious sandwiches on rustic bread of sardines in garlic and olive oil, with a small cold beer. I sat down, ate and chatted with locals on benches at simple communal
Burrata and beyond: a foodie tour of northern Puglia, Italy
It’s the birthplace of the popular cheese, but the Barletta-Andria-Trani province in southern Italy has an array of local delicacies – from olive oil and yellow tomatoes to goat prosciutto ‘I don’t eat mozzarella outside Puglia,” says our friend Savio. “It’s not the same.” Savio is a very opinionated foodie, so I take his words with a pinch of good Puglian sea salt (see below). He was adamant about the superiority of the stretched-curd cheese from his home turf. Puglia is also the birthplace of ingredient du jour burrata, which originated in Andria, a few miles from Savio’s home town of Barlet
Solo autumn walks for women in the UK and Europe: ‘it should be fun, not daunting’
Hiking alone in the countryside can be joyous, but for women it can sometimes feel unnerving. Here’s how to enjoy it safely, plus four stunning routes to walk solo I did my first solo hike during a sunny September, seven years ago. After a summer of feeding and ferrying four noisy teenagers (and their friends) around, I was exhausted. But despite being bone tired, I had barely moved. I yearned, above all, for time on my own, for the chance to walk without interruption (and at the pace I chose), and for the silence of some empty wilderness. But I was nervous. Not of being on my own, but of what
Advertisement
The other side of Croatia: ‘a landscape that could out-Tuscany Tuscany’
Weekenders from Zagreb head to the rolling green Samobor Hills for nature, vineyards, delicious local food and Habsburg-era architecture ‘You’re going to Samobor? You must try kremšnita,” my Dubrovnik friends told me before I set off on my trip north. “But I’ve already had kremšnita in Zagreb,” I told them. They do it better in Samobor, they insisted. I wasn’t about to get embroiled in a battle of the cream cakes in a region where Croatians, Slovenes and Austrians all like to celebrate their own versions of this decadently thick, fat custard slice topped with puff pastry and icing sugar. But I
Socialist hotels – in pictures
Socialist Hotels is the first photography book to focus solely on the architecture of hospitality in Eastern Europe and the post-Soviet landscape. These state-constructed buildings were used by visiting government workers and ordinary citizens. Today they are a fascinating legacy of a social and cultural idiosyncrasy. Socialist Hotels by Elena Amabili is published by FUEL Continue reading...
Beyond Bradford and the Brontës – new walking trail shows West Yorkshire’s natural beauty
The Bradford Pennine Gateway Trail, launching this weekend, aims to ‘change perceptions of Bradford’ by taking in the moors and the area’s new national nature reserve A grainy photograph, dated 1938, hangs in a frame on the downstairs wall of my B&B. It shows 100, perhaps 200, elegantly attired trippers sitting on the green at Shipley Glen in West Yorkshire. They’re picnicking, chatting, taking the air and enjoying the sunshine, while admiring the rocks and woods that frame the deep gully below. It’s local, low-carbon, cheap-as-chips tourism before the jet age – and also a model for how we
‘Gateways to heaven’: readers’ favourite trips in Europe’s mountains
From the foothills of the Pyrenees to the peaks of the Dolomites, you share your top views, meals and adventures at altitude • Tell us about a trip to Germany – the best tip wins a £200 holiday voucher No doubt your first thought on hearing the words “double-decker” is of a bus. But in the Swiss village of Stans, an old wooden funicular carriage ascends to the station, where a double-decker cable car awaits. Inside, a spiral staircase leads you to an open upper viewing deck. At the summit, the views back to Lucerne are superb, and there are alpine marmots to spot too. There was a wedding cerem